[Harp-L] Pre WWII harp

[Gerardo Lopez <lopezlevieux@xxxxxxxx>]

Many people think that the harp player behind Peetie Wheatstraw is in fact Rhythm Willie but it must be said that nobody can prove it. The Decca label files that I have had the opportunity to look at are very unreliable. Most of the musicians listed on many sessions are in fact borrowed names invented by Joe Mc Coy, the former Memphis Minnie husband and A&R at Decca during the late 30's et 40's. I think he did this to get all the money involved in the sessions.
Robert Lee Mc Coy who recorded in the 30's for Bluebird and Decca is better known as Robert Nighthawk, a blues singer and guitarist who got some fame with his smooth slide guitar playing. Although he is named as the harmonicist of some Decca sessions behind Sleepy John Estes and others, I guess he never recorded playing the harmonica and the player is somebody else. Mc Coy/ Nighthawk never recorded his harp playing (if he ever played the harmonica at all) during his quite important recorded works.
What about "Lee Mc Coy" another different harp player than the previous one? Although he is cited playing the harmonica in the current discographies during the 30's, he is also a total unknown and nobody (producer, bluesman....) ever remembered him at all. Once again, I guess this Mc Coy never existed and I bet that Joe Mc Coy put this name on the files to grab the session money unto his pocket.
So, who is really playing on those sessions? Rhythm Willie? Another hitherto unknown harp player?
We must understand that at those times nobody thought the blues had any importance. All the bluesmen were mostly qualified as "drunken colored people" and their music without any artistic value.